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Wasserman Schultz at DNC

The Florida Democrat is using the Democratic National Committee’s extensive and deep-pocketed donor network to construct a stronger and more expansive political operation, and at least “double” the money she gives to Democrats in the House, Senate and state capitals around the country, she said in an interview.

Power in the Democratic Party will soon be up for grabs. Nancy Pelosi, who has for years been the top House Democratic fundraiser, won’t be around forever. Minority Whip Steny Hoyer is the heir apparent, but once Pelosi leaves, there will be a void that needs to be filled.

Wasserman Schultz’s political team explicitly said her goal this cycle is to give away as much money as Hoyer — $2.5 million — which would position her to be one of the party’s biggest ATMs and a player, if she wants.

“I don’t really do anything halfway,” Wasserman Schultz told POLITICO in an interview at DNC headquarters. “We thought with the higher profile I have at the DNC, and the donor relationships I’ve been able to build — and thankfully, a lot of people who want to help me be successful, because we share the same goals. We kind of put the leadership PAC on steroids. That’s the best way to describe it.”

It’s not clear what Wasserman Schultz wants — she pointedly wouldn’t rule out running for leadership, governor or senator.

“So far, the people of the 23rd Congressional District still continue to want me to represent them, and I don’t have any immediate plans to run for statewide office, but I can’t tell you I would never run for statewide office,” she said.

Her ascension in the House Democratic Caucus is not assured. Some of her House colleagues feel she hasn’t created the personal relationships necessary to build a coalition to support a leadership run. Others have grumbled that she hasn’t done enough for them since joining the DNC — one source pointed out that Hoyer, as well as Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Steve Israel and Rep. Joe Crowley, both of New York, all have contributed more to the House committee.

Her staff counters that she raised and gave just more than $2.3 million for her colleagues in 2011 and 2012 — including $1.26 million that she raised and contributed on her own. DCCC insiders level sharper criticisms and say that she went after their donors from her perch at the DNC.

“There’s times I call up a donor that is a mutual donor of all three or four or five entities and Steve Israel has gotten to them before me, and there’s a cap and they’ve maxed and their max out donation isn’t available for us anymore,” she said. “And I know that’s happened to him — I assume it has. Look, we’re all on the same team.”

Then there is her relationship with Obama. She didn’t have a great rapport with some of the key players in the administration — but she was asked to serve as DNC chairwoman for another four years.

But if the next few years go as she plans, she will be nearly impossible to dismiss.

Wasserman Schultz already has started her campaign by contributing and raising nearly $1 million for 35 members this year. Her second quarter DWS PAC fundraising haul was roughly $368,000 for her leadership PAC — the most she’s raised in a quarter, according to Federal Election Commission reports.

Between now and October, she’ll hit Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, New York, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas. She’ll also visit Montana, a new state in her 2014 fundraising travel schedule.

Part of her strong fundraising showing is due to Lindsey Schulte, a former DCCC aide who is now executive director of her PAC. Most of Wasserman Schultz’s team — Jason O’Malley, her longtime political hand and top communications aide Jonathan Beeton — have been loyal to the Florida Democrat for more than a decade.

Her political staff, which is holed up in the DNC headquarters in Southeast D.C., is planning to “do things with the leadership PAC that have never been done before.”

“We’re going to be very engaged in helping Democrats,” Wasserman Schultz said. Pressed whether that meant they would run advertisements on behalf of members, she said, “we’re going to be very engaged in helping elect Democrats — assuming we meet our goals.”

That shouldn’t be a problem, partially because the timing of her chairmanship of the DNC has been fortuitous. Obama forbade his party committee from taking money from lobbyists and corporate political action committees — something no other DNC chair has had to contend with — so Wasserman Schultz has had to rely on individual donors around the country. And that meant meeting a lot of really rich people.